Bob James Is not|Amused by Sampling

LOS ANGELES (CN) – Jazz musician Bob James sued a hip-hop artist and his record label, in a lawsuit with some pointed words about “sampling.” James, 76, who has recorded with Sarah Vaughan, Paul Simon and others, and wrote the theme song for “Taxi,” sued Otis Jackson Jr. pka Quasimoto, Stones Throw Records, Apple, Amazon et al. on April 10 in Federal Court. James and his label Tappan Zee Records claim the defendants used his music because they couldn’t produce adequate music of their own. “One of the problems that confront many ‘Hip Hop’ or ‘Rap’ artists is that they are unable to achieve an instrumental background musical sound quality for their works,” James says in the complaint. “As a result, they borrow or ‘sample,’ therefore infringe the performance and composition of others in this case, the copywritten works of James and Tappan Zee.” Otis Jackson also raps and produces music under the name Madlib. Since 1999 he has released nine albums under various names and collaborated on seven records. James claims Jackson used his keyboard tracks to back up the song “Sparkdala.” James, who was nominated for three Grammys in the 1970s and won a Grammy in 1985 for the album “Double Vision,” is recognized as one of the founders of smooth jazz, and founded the contemporary Fourplay. He claims the defendants used snippets of his song “Nautilus” on “Sparkdala,” for the album “Yessir, Whatever.” He seeks profits and or damages for copyright infringement and costs and fees. He is represented by Allen Hyman of North Hollywood, who was not immediately available for comment.